Encounter

Misty morning shadows waver
Shiv'ry water ripples wait
Molten bronze reflections gather
To confuse and dazzle sight
As I drifted, paddle dripping
In the cool and tingling air
Glanced across the shining waters
Sure I saw a maiden there.
Did I see her? Shadow-flicker
Form. Two eyes. A hidden face.
Unrevealing, wary-gazing
Slender, bronze-brown, spring-taut grace.
Like a swimmer tensed for diving
Or a bird before its flight
Laughing yet in face of sorrow
Knowing Joy will follow Right.
She had seen me bumbling onward
Long before my gaze had strayed
From my course to wander aimless
Reason by my sight betrayed;
For a frozen moment saw her
Poised in passing, watching me
Then, like raindrops fall in water
Gone as though she'd never been.